The Old Salt Store

The boat is on the way! Fulfillment beginning soon!
over 3 years ago – Thu, Dec 01, 2022 at 05:27:51 AM

Hello Admirals!

It’s been quite the month for Old Salt and I am excited to dive into the updates! Updates and topics to go over:

Charging Cards in Backerkit

Locking Addresses

Boat ETA

Estimated Timeline for Fulfillment

I don’t have any pictures in this update, the last update I was thrilled to show off the final version of Old Salt, and any pictures of Old Salt in this update would have been redundant to what the previous update provided.

First order of business is Backerkit and the need to lock addresses and charge your cards to cover shipping expenses. The boat is currently in transit and it is important that we have everything in order before the fulfillment center gets to our pallets. To make sure that we are able to fulfill as soon as possible we will be charging cards through Backerkit on December 10th. This will give us enough time to sort out any failed cards and enough time to transfer the funds to the fulfillment center so they can do their job. We will lock addresses on December 20th. Similarly, if there is an undeliverable address, we should discover that soon after locking so we can address that if we catch it. It’s still up to you to provide us with an accurate address, but if I reveal an undeliverable address I will follow up with the backer as needed.

December 10th - Charging Cards - This is to cover shipping expenses / VAT if applicable / Taxes.

December 20th - Locking Addresses - This allows us to send you Old Salt and NOK if applicable.

Boat! The boat that is carrying Old Salt is estimated to arrive in Port Calgary on December 20th. We’ll take care of customs / tariffs and all that fun legal mumbo jumbo. I expect a week or two after it’s arrival to make its way to the fulfillment center. Not much gets done during the holidays so if it takes a little more time, I wouldn’t be wildly surprised. After it arrives at the fulfillment center (Hub Trotter Logististics) we will more than likely be in a queue of other businesses waiting to be shipped out. Because we are on top of locking addresses and charging cards, the fulfillment center will not need to wait on us for shipping out copies of Old Salt. Since Hub Trotter Logistics is in Canada, CA backers will likely receive their rewards first, then USA, then Europe and Australia.

Estimated timeline - Below is the timeline that I think is reasonable (+/- a week or two) to expect given the current state of the world.

December 20th - Boat arrives in port.

December 28th - Customs, Duties, Tariffs, etc are paid and product is moved to Hub trotter Logistics.

Jan 4 - Product arrives at fulfillment center, entered into queue.

Jan 12 - First in queue, ready to ship out.

Jan 15 - CA receives

Jan 20 - USA receives

Jan 31 - Europe / Australia begin to receive

Feb 1 - 15 - All backers received orders and fulfillment is completed.

It’s not a guarantee of course, but that’s my best guess. I greatly appreciate your patience during this whole process, we were delayed by many factors but I am really pleased with how the final version of Old Salt turned out. I believe you will enjoy many adventures on the high seas.

Once we wrap up the fulfillment of Old Salt I’ll plan to make an update going over my future plans and endeavors as a board game designer. I have been blessed with some very unique opportunities that I look forward to sharing once Old Salt is squared away.

As always, if you need to get in touch with me, feel free to comment on the Kickstarter, email me at [email protected] or dm me on Kickstarter.

May the seas favor you well Admirals!

Tim

On the cusp of the next phase (the boat)!
over 3 years ago – Mon, Oct 31, 2022 at 08:09:02 PM

Hello Admirals!

Lots of good news in this update. Old Salt and the Naval Overhaul Kit have completed manufacturing. We have 6 pallets of Old Salt and 2 pallets of the Naval Overhaul Kit ready and waiting. Our next step is getting onto those big boats. I am in the process of getting a freight quote from our fulfillment company to compare against the freight quote we received from our manufacturer. The freight quote I received is definitely pricey but after seeing prices continue to rise, I'm a little surprised it isn't higher. 

I will be moving forward with the better of the two quotes as soon as I receive the second quote (and get any clarifying questions answered). I’m not 100% sure how long it takes to get the pallets loaded onto the boat after we pay the quote but I will work with the manufacturer to help things go as swiftly and smoothly as possible. I’m sure they want to get the pallets out of there as soon as possible too.

Backerkit - charging cards:

We are roughly 1 month from locking addresses and soon after that we will charge cards. Most of you wonderful backers have already completed your backerkit or verified your backerkit information with me and I am eternally grateful for that. For the other wonderful backers who have not yet filled out their backerkit information or are not sure if you’ve done that yet, it is up to you to check and get that done. If you do not know the link or log in information for your backerkit, send me an email at [email protected] and I’ll do my best to help get you back on track.

Early Pictures

I did ask the manufacturer to ship me 3 cartons as soon as they were done with manufacturing. Over the weekend I received the cartons and I dove in to a copy to see how it all turned out. I am quite thrilled about the quality. I will be using these copies to demo Old Salt and increase the pre-order numbers. To clarify any potential misunderstandings: These copies I had shipped to me are not for sale, they are to demo. Pre Orders will be fulfilled after Kickstarter Backer orders have been sent out. After Pre Orders I'll send to Reviewers who reviewed Old Salt pre Kickstarter.  

Here are some pictures going over the contents of Old Salt. Disclaimer: I am no expert photographer.

I am a big fan of the insert guide. Very glad we were able to add that in before the packaging phase. Should help players quickly put components away and aid in setting up the game.  

This is after pulling out the guide, punchboard, board, and promo cards. 

 This is after pulling out everything but the die, ship tokens, damage tokens and plastic stands. 

 This picture shows the components in their faction box. This is one of my favorite parts of Old Salt. 

Instead of passing someone a bunch of pieces, you slide them a box. Clean, quick, efficient. 

This is what it looks like before putting the board, Rulebook, and Formations & Maneuvers booklet back in the box. 

This is what it should look like when opening a box after punching out the punchboard (Thank you card isn't required to be present of course).

 All packaged up and ready for a game on the high seas.
Future Old Salt Media
  Now that I have some official copies with me, let me know if you’d like to see a video of an unboxing or if you’d like to see a video of me and a few friends playing through Old Salt with the official units. Or something else entirely.
  By the time our next Old Salt update rolls around we should be on the boat. I know some Kickstarters give the boat information so that backers can track its progress, let me know if that is something you’d like me to try and obtain for you all.
 Slippery Damage Tokens Issue: Resolved.
  When we first got our samples from the manufacturer, the damage tokens were very slippery, basically unplayable. To fix this we added friction by rubberizing the damage tokens. It was worth every penny. Now the ship tokens do not slide off of their damage stack. 

 That is all for this update, as always, if you have any questions or concerns, please send me an email or message me on Kickstarter. Happy to chat! Till next time admirals, may the seas favor you well! 

Tim
 

September Update - The Next Step In The Process
over 3 years ago – Sat, Sep 24, 2022 at 05:50:03 AM

Hello Admirals! 

It's been a great month and manufacturing is finally on it's way to the past. In this update we go over a new guide sheet for putting tokens away, obtaining quotes for transport, our excitement to have properly sized ship tokens and a reminder to make sure your Backerkit is all set to go. As always if you have any questions or concerns, please get in touch over email at [email protected] and I'll reply as soon as I am able! 

Insert Guide Sheet

I had a concern that players would have difficulty figuring out how to put the components back in the box correctly. This concern was increased when one component (ocean tokens) did not have a specific spot to be placed in the insert but instead were to be placed at the bottom of a bin below the faction cards. There’s no way a player could figure that out without encountering some frustrations so I had our awesome artist, Jennifer make an insert guide sheet. Now there will be no frustrations with setting up or packing up. Unless if you are frustrated that your opponent won or something game related. Here is that insert sheet Jennifer made, it’s pretty straightforward by showing the component type and where each component type goes in the box.

Final Steps with the Manufacturer

Printing out the Insert guide sheet and packaging are all that remain. I am sorry that this whole process did not lend much for the visual side of the journey. Just about every step of the way I requested video and photo but I only ever received media on the individual unit rather than a wide shot of 1000 Old Salt boards or 10,000 Zealot ship tokens (Which would have been awesome to see). Despite the lack of visual aid, I am happy to say that we are wrapping up with the manufacturer and soon we will be on a boat headed to our fulfillment center.

Obtaining Freight Quotes

I’ve been in touch with our fulfillment company, Hubtrotter and everything is looking great. Both the manufacturer and Hubtrotter are working on getting me a quote for maritime transportation. This way we have some options when it's time to move forward. 

From what I’ve been told, boats have been taking about 8 weeks for transport which is significantly better than 6 months ago. We are still leaning on the safe side and estimating a 12 week transport timeline. Unless there are significant backups, we should have Old Salt and the Naval Overhaul Kit arrive to the fulfillment center in early January 2023. We estimate 7 to 10 days for the fulfillment company to finish up any prior commitments (other holiday shipments or backups they encountered) before getting to us which then gives us the 2nd half of January to fulfill your rewards.

Ship Tokens are proper size

The sample we received way back when from Gameland was beautiful and leaps and bounds ahead of our PreKickstarter prototype but the ship tokens took up 100% of the hexagon tile on the board. This made it very difficult and annoying for players to maneuver their ships because it had to be perfect on the tile. 1 mm to one side would push 2 other ships off of their tiles. The ships we recently received in a sample are a great size and players will not have to worry about that “cramped” vibe the previous ship tokens gave off.

Backerkit

By the time we hit our next update, we will discuss our plans with Backerkit and charging cards for Fulfillment. If you are unsure if your survey is completed or if your address is correct, please send me an email at [email protected] and I’ll help get you squared away. 9 times out of 10 the people who have reached out to me have been all set and ready to go. But it never hurts to check in on your investment.

That's all we have for this month, but I am excited to get the games onto the boat and sent off to the fulfillment company! May we have strong winds and favorable seas during this next stage in our Kickstarter journey. 

Tim

August Update - Revised Estimated Fulfillment Date
over 3 years ago – Fri, Aug 12, 2022 at 04:33:53 AM

Hello Admirals,

I apologize for the delay in this update. At this point everything is contingent on the manufacturer. Over the past couple of weeks I made 4 attempts to get an update from the manufacturer for Old Salt. Yesterday (August 10th) I finally heard back and it turns out we still have another month to go. I have also requested video / photos of the process to share with you but I have not received any.

After I received the less than stellar update from the manufacturer I started drafting this KS update and started searching for a way to maintain the original fulfillment date. There is one option I am pursuing but at this point there is very little chance we can stick to the original fulfillment date for Old Salt.

Because of this delay (~70 days to manufacture instead of 35 days they had told me to expect) and previous delays that I have addressed in other KS updates, I believe it best to officially push back the estimated fulfillment date for this Kickstarter to January 2023.

One option I am pursuing:

I am going to get updated quotes to airship KS backer copies to fulfillment centers in order to maintain the fulfillment date and then put the remaining copies on a boat. In the event that doesn’t pan out, January 2023 is when backers can expect to get their copy of Old Salt copies and the NOK if you ordered that.

Manufacturer Update That I Received:

• So far the plastic insert for the NOK is completed.
• Wood working (ship tokens, damage tokens, NOK components) are 30% completed.
• Paper products (punch board, faction boxes, the board, rulebook, Formations and Maneuvers booklet) are at 50% completion.

I am truly sorry for the pushed fulfillment date. I will continue to press the manufacturer for pictures/videos and progress on Old Salt.

Old Salt Is In Mass Production!
over 3 years ago – Thu, Jul 07, 2022 at 09:15:12 PM

Hello Admirals! 

I wanted to start this update off with some great news. Old Salt is now in the mass production stage!! After many delays, we are finally moving forward again, and it feels great. This update will dive into what we spent our time on in June and expectations for the remaining timeline.
TL:DR - Damage Tokens will have a rubber coating so they stack as intended. We are finally in the mass production stage with our manufacturer. Things are moving forward.
In our last update, we spent a bit of time talking about how close we were to mass production. This was because the only item that remained was our damage tokens. Since we already had a couple of solutions in mind at that time we figured it couldn't take a lot of time. Turns out, it took a lot of time.

A quick refresher on our damage token debacle. The damage tokens are 1 inch hexagons that go below the ship token when the ship is damaged. The more a ship is damaged, the more tokens that go under the ship (grey tokens represent 1 damage, black tokens represent 3 damage). The tokens we received in our sample did not stack well and unless the player was being very careful, the stack would topple over with slight movement. Very frustrating. Unusable and definitely unplayable. This isn't even taking into account that they were the wrong shape. 

Here is a video of unpainted tokens that had grip [A] compared to the default tokens we had received in the sample. 

As you can see from the video, the damage tokens we received would not work for Old Salt. A solution had to be found before we could go into mass production. 

Without going too far into detail, the month of June went like this:

• Rubber sample tokens received [B], they definitely worked but the price was far too high to move forward with. Decide to move forward with an alternate solution [A] previously discussed with the manufacturer.
• Alternate solution [A] ended up not being an option like we thought it was. These are the grippy, unpainted tokens on the left in the video.
• Brainstormed with the manufacturer alternate ideas and solutions.
• None worked.
• Ended up going with the rubber coating as it was the only real solution [B].
• Resubmitted e-proof.
• Some errors were found and addressed.
• Resubmitted e-proof.
• Perfect, no problems.
• Beginning stages of mass production. Finally!

It’s great we are finally moving forward with Old Salt. I can't wait to get pictures of the manufacturing process and see tons of boxes, ship tokens and punch board sheets. I’m hyped. Also the Old Salt backers will receive will be a very high quality game. Once we are done with mass production, we will meet with our Kickstarter advisor and see if our timeline needs to be revised. If mass production goes smoothly, we might still make our mark. If there are any more delays, we will definitely need to push back our estimated fulfillment date.
I will make another update either at either the end of July or at the beginning of August with lots of pictures of mass production. We will also talk about Old Salt’s timeline and hopefully give you lots of good news!

If you have any questions for me, feel free to send me an email at [email protected] or a direct message over Kickstarter works too. I’ll be in touch as soon as I can.
Till next time, Admirals!

Tim